As Temperatures Fall, Number of Prescribed Burns Rise

ALACHUA COUNTY- In the Waccasassa Forest District just under 2000 acres were scheduled to burn today across 5 different counties in North Central Florida.

Wildfire experts say they are going to be busy this month.

Higher rainfall totals over the summer kept the number of wildfires in north central florida relatively low.

But it also grew more vegetation.

Wildfire Mitigation Specialist, Ludie Bond explains, "in the winter months after a couple of hard freezes we start seeing more of the grass fires and pasture fires leading into the spring months which are typically very windy and very dry and that's usually the busiest time for wildfire season in Florida."

Prescribed burns not only lower the chances of wildfire in a given area, but they also protect natural wildlife like the Gopher Tortoise.